Fwd: Feng Shui is Killing Some Real Estate Deals

[Richard Romeo]

thought this was rather amusing...rich


>
>"If it's just a matter of moving a bit of furniture around, it's not so 
>bad;
>but when it's the front door facing the wrong way, then there's nothing
>anyone can do about it."
>
>Many British Home Buyers Now Using Feng Shui
>
>By Susie Steiner - Property Correspondent
>
>http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/01/22/timnwsnws01029.html?999
>1-22-2000
>
>
>Nervous housebuyers are increasingly using feng shui experts to tell them
>whether their prospective purchase has the necessary "flow of chi" and 
>offers
>years of happiness.
>
>The new army of consultants, who are often brought in to "feel for vibes" 
>at
>a critical point in the sale, are proving a thorn in the side of estate
>agents as buyers pull out on the basis of their advice.
>
>For about £400 the feng shui expert offers a detailed floor plan, revealing
>whether the flow of "positive energy" in a house is likely to hamper or
>encourage happiness. They will also provide mapping services, showing which
>areas to look in because landscape "has such a large-scale influence on the
>movement and quality of chi [positive energy] available for your home".
>
>While fewer than 5 per cent of buyers bother to invest in a full structural
>survey, a growing number are spending hundreds of pounds checking the "flow
>of chi" before they buy.However, as the door flings open to the feng shui
>experts, estate agents roll their eyes.
>
>"From an agent's point of view, it's a nightmare," Ed Cunningham, of 
>Douglas
>& Gordon, agents in Central London, said. "We've had instances where little
>Mr Feng Shui has come in with the prospective buyer and he's left to his 
>own
>devices. Nine times out of ten he'll light some kind of joss stick and go 
>off
>to find out the vibes of the house.
>
>"I can't help feeling that it doesn't matter how many flats these guys 
>reject
>because they will always get called to see the next one."
>
>Simon Brown, a feng shui consultant to British Airways and the Body Shop,
>charges up to £400 for a full feng shui survey. "They vary quite wildly," 
>he
>said. "If it's a small studio, obviously it's quite quick because you can
>draw a floor plan for about £200. A larger house with several floors would 
>be
>nearer £400. It has certainly taken off in the past three years with the
>house-price boom."
>
>Mr Cunningham said that a number of his clients had pulled out of sales on
>the advice of feng shui consultants.
>
>"We had one instance in Earls Court Square with a big ground-floor bachelor
>pad," he said. "A single girl wanted to buy it, but before putting an offer
>in she had her feng shui expert in. He felt bad vibes and we didn't get a
>sale."
>
>More than one development in London has had to be renumbered because of
>buyers' superstitions. At Mount Vernon, a luxurious block of flats in
>Hampstead, the No 4 had to be eradicated from the block because of its
>associations.
>
>"The word four in Chinese means death," Grant Alexon, of Knight Frank, the
>agents that dealt with the sale, said. "It's a very legitimate problem. I
>wouldn't want death in my address."
>
>Jeremy Leaf, the housing market spokesman for the Royal Institution of
>Chartered Surveyors, said: "It's definitely more prevalent than ever before
>and it's very annoying. It has got worse in the boom.
>
>"If it's just a matter of moving a bit of furniture around, it's not so 
>bad;
>but when it's the front door facing the wrong way, then there's nothing
>anyone can do about it."
>
>Believers must not buy a house at the head of a T-junction that faces down 
>a
>road because all the positive energy will run away.
>
>Beware, though; looking out on to a wall can block your chi. The 
>househunter
>must also take care not to buy on a "geopathic stress line", which could 
>play
>havoc with their health and relationships.

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